Top Indian Maoist leader killed: police

Top Indian Maoist leader killed: police:(GEO)HYDERABAD: Indian police said Saturday they had killed a top Maoist leader during a gunfight with the rebels in a densely forested region of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

Cherukuri Rajkumar, commonly known as “Azad,” was a top-ranking member of the Maoists’ central committee and one of the insurgency’s most prominent spokesmen.

He was shot dead by police on Friday as he was trying to cross into the neighbouring state of Maharastra, said senior Andhra Pradesh police officer P. Promod Kumar.

Associated with the Maoist movement for more than 35 years, Azad was allegedly involved in attempts on the lives of two former state chief ministers, and carried a reward of 1.2 million rupees (25,000 dollars) on his head.

He was killed three days after the Maoists shot dead 26 members of the paramilitary forces in an ambush in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh.